It didn’t come easy but Steve Garcia earned a vicious ground-and-pound finish to kick off UFC Vegas 39 on Saturday from Las Vegas.
An early axe kick and a couple of wild exchanges resulted in Garcia being knocked down twice in the opening round, but he recovered enough to drag Charlie Ontiveros to the ground and that’s where the momentum completely changed. Garcia blasted Ontiveros with elbows to open a nasty cut near his eye in the first round then delivered even more ground-and-pound punishment in the second round to earn a TKO finish.
The stoppage came at 1:51 in the second round as Garcia celebrates his first win in the UFC.
“Winners don’t quit on themselves,” Garcia said about surviving the early onslaught from Ontiveros. “All I knew was I had to protect the chin. We fight through.”
It was a wild fight from the start with Garcia and Ontiveros both looking for the knockout on the feet.
Unfortunately for Garcia he got the worst of the exchanges after he was planted on the canvas two different times, but he managed to survive and grab onto the takedown to help him recover.
From there, Garcia was in complete control as he battered Ontiveros with punches and elbows, including the shot that had blood splattered across the octagon floor.
Garcia had to work through another close call in Round 2 but this time he got the takedown, moved into the mount position and then \started raining down punches until Ontiveros was clearly compromised and could not continue.
After falling to make weight during a previous appearance on the UFC’s Contender Series, Garcia bumped up to lightweight and now expects to call the 155-pound division home as he moves forward with his career in the UFC.
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